Nanoscopic structures are of growing interest and have enabled the production of new materials in photonics, microfluidics, and other disciplines. One method for forming nanoscopic structures is transfer molding, which has emerged as an attractive way to produce low cost, large area patterns. (See, for example, Marzolin et al., Advanced Materials, vol. 10, pp. 571-574, 1998; and Hampton et al., Advanced Materials, vol. 20, pp. 2667-2673, 2008.) Transfer molding has the potential for high throughput while avoiding the intensive processing associated with traditional patterning methods such as lithography.
Transfer molding has been employed to form layered structures by hot bonding successive layers of polymeric materials at temperatures above the glass transition temperature Tg of the last-deposited layer. (See, for example, Bao et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, vol. 20, pp. 2881-2886, 2002.) Also, layers have been successively stacked by including gluing steps in the fabrication process. (See, for example, Han et al., Applied Physics Letters, vol. 91, pp. 123118-123113, 2007.) Nevertheless, the prior art techniques suffer from various limitations, so that while transfer molding has met with some success, its extension to layered, patterned materials remains a challenge.